


Ain't No Sunshine

by chatterboxrose



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 16:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1990146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chatterboxrose/pseuds/chatterboxrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternative Universe where people have an outward manifestation of their negative emotions, Blaine Anderson hates seeing people with their Emotional Clouds. So much that he likes to cheer up complete strangers to make them go away. But one bad day he gets his own rain cloud and doesn't have an umbrella and someone else comes to his aide to do the same for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ain't No Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic for the Kurt/Blaine Reversebang and the art that goes along with it is by mizuirokandeya! Go check out her tumblr to see the art.

**Excerpt from: _A Short History of Emotional Clouds_ by Edward James**

 

_Chemicals in the human body are extremely volatile and at times unpredictable when under certain conditions. In the more modern age it is easily understandable, however in the past there were a whole host of colorful explanations for the appearance of Emotional Clouds and other sort of visual identifiers of a person’s emotional state. Because the appearance of Emotional Clouds were so sudden, magic was thought to be a main cause. Other cultures felt like it was a way that the darkness inside a person was expelled. Now, however, we all know that it just simply a way that emotions are expressed and has a deep tie to the chemical compounds of the body: simply put, hormones._

 

_This means that visual identifiers only appear when a person is under stress or emotional duress. To be happy or content is considered a blank slate, in which nothing will appear. It is when emotions take a turn for the angry, sad, or severely depressed that we see the emergence of these visual identifiers. They most often take the shape of a dark cloud above a person’s head. In more extreme cases of emotion, the person can even see rain or even lightning come from their clouds. These visual identifiers take a very potent mixture of chemicals in the body, meaning the person is experiencing an extreme emotion. Rain clouds are often seen after death in one’s life – such as a family member or friend – or any other very triggering event. Lightning is seen with extreme anger. A person’s lightning cloud has even caused injury to those around them and in a handful of cases even causes death (but this is extremely uncommon and only usually takes place in an angry individual who is, in the first place, homicidal). More often than not, a strike from a person’s lightning cloud is no more than a zap of static electricity, but can vary in intensity._

 

_The most common visual identifier is, as stated above, a dark cloud with no rain or lightning. This mostly presents itself with any sort of negative emotion. Even a difficult day can have people developing small clouds above their heads._

 

_Of course, a dark cloud can develop rain – anything from a small spit shower to a full out drenching – with any change in emotion (and thus, in the chemicals within that person’s body). It also depends on the person themselves. A person’s level of chemicals unleashed during unpleasant emotions can vary and a small upsetting moment, which might trigger a few tuffs of clouds, could trigger a full out rain cloud for another._

 

_An interesting thing happens in people who have depression. Usually the presence of a cloud is constant, with rain coming and going in the changes of this individual’s mood._

 

_Emotional Clouds do not usually start to appear until a few years after birth. The earliest appearances are around the age of three, and the latest is the age of eight._

 

 

**Excerpt from: _Miss Mandy Mason’s Etiquette Guide For Emotional Clouds_**

 

_Etiquette tip #1: It is an absolute no-no to directly address someone’s Emotional Cloud. You have no idea why they have that cloud above their head! It could be something simple, like being upset that their favorite was voted off American Idol, or it could be something as serious as a death in the family. It’s best to dance around the topic. You don’t have to completely ignore it – that’s not good manners either! – but don’t outrightly ask about it._

 

_In the case of a rain cloud, you can always offer an umbrella (though in today’s world, so many people already carry their own. It’s foolish not to). If you are indoors, it’s even okay to politely ask for them to leave, or if your building is outfitted with wet rooms, to direct them there. These wet rooms are designed to calm people down: they have extensive playlists of calming music, water-proofed couches and drains in the floor. They are also closed off, so they are not seen in the room. It’s often embarrassing to be caught out and about with a rain cloud. It causes such a mess – to both your person and your surrounding – so to be out of sight is often a blessing for people. After a few minutes in a wet room, people are usually able to pull themselves together enough to stop their rain._

 

xoxo

 

Blaine has been cheering people up to make their clouds go away since he could remember.

 

When he was four years old his grandmother died. He didn’t really get what that meant, but everyone else was sad. It was one of his very earliest memories, blurry and also vivid in the way early memories of childhood are. That’s when he saw clouds over people’s heads for the first time, at his grandmother’s funeral.

 

Almost everyone had a cloud, but only a few had rain coming out, which included his mother.

 

Blaine was sitting on his brother Cooper’s lap, staring up at the cloud above his mom’s head and marveling at the rain that would come down.

 

“Coop?” he asked, pulling on his brother’s sleeve. His brother was basically an adult, so he asked him everything when he was confused. Cooper made a shushing sound though, and said something about being quiet in church, so Blaine whispered. “Why does everyone have a cloud? And why is mama’s raining?”

 

“It’s…it’s how people show they’re sad, Squirt,” said Cooper after a moment. “And mama is sad that her mama died. You know what that means, right?”

 

Blaine shook his head.

 

“It means that mama can’t hug her anymore, like when you hug mama,” said Cooper.

 

“Or tell her stories at bedtime?” asked Blaine with wide eyes. Cooper nodded.

 

“When people are sad, the cloud appears. If they’re really sad, it rains. Like when it rains from the sky,” said Cooper.

 

Blaine looked over to his mom and wanted to cry. That’s when little puffs of cloud settled over his head for the first time, though not fully formed.

 

After the funeral, Blaine walked over to his mom and pulled at her dress. They were on a grassy spot with a lot of stones pushed into the ground and his mom was staring down at a hole in the ground.

 

“Mama?”

 

His mom, whose cloud was raining, looked over and sniffed. “Yes, sweetie?”

 

Blaine held out a few flowers that he had found at the church. They were pink and Blaine knew that that was his mama’s favorite color.

 

“Sweetie…what are these for?” she asked.

 

“To make you happy,” said Blaine. “Because you always say that it rains because flowers and trees and stuff need the water to grow and even though people are sad when it rains, the flowers the rain makes are the thing that makes everyone happy again.”

 

His mom leaned down and took both him and the flowers up in her arms. The rain of her cloud stopped and she actually smiled. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

 

After that, he helped everyone he could be happy. In first grade, when Susie Jones fell down on the playground, both her tears and her rain cloud appeared at the same time. Blaine saw from his place on the swings and jumped off them to run over to her. He bent down and put his hand on her shoulder and told her it would be okay.

 

“I’ll kiss it better,” said Blaine confidently. “That’s what my mama does.”

 

Susie Jones sniffled.

 

Blaine leaned in, getting a little wet from her rain cloud, and kissed her cheek.

 

“There,” he said, moving back. “Is that better?”

 

After a moment, Susie’s rain stopped. Now it was only a small little cloud floating above her. “I – I think so,” she said.

 

“Okay. Here, let me take you to the nurse.” Blaine helped her up and walked her up to the school.    

 

xoxo

 

Throughout his life, he’ll do whatever he can think of to cheer up those around him with emotional clouds. Mostly his friends, but he’ll even do it for strangers, too. He’ll give them flowers, sit down and tell them jokes, whatever he can do. Sometimes it doesn’t work. Often times it does.

 

Strictly speaking, what he does isn’t exactly polite. Usually it’s considered better manners to just ignore someone’s emotional cloud, because it could be embarrassing for that person to acknowledge it. Maybe offer them something to dry off with, or help them over to a wet room, but it’s better to just keep your eyes down if you see someone with a cloud.

 

The people Blaine cheers up don’t seem to mind. At first the strangers seem to be taken aback, maybe even a little embarrassed, but if he’s able to cheer them up and make the cloud disappear or the rain stop, then they don’t mind so much. Blaine feels – he feels good, when he helps people like this.

 

New York is full of interesting people. Some people don’t take kindly to him butting into their lives to help them, especially when they are in the vulnerable spot of having an emotional cloud. He’s been called all sorts of names, of course, but it doesn’t usually get to him. He keeps a positive outlook on life and because of this, doesn’t often get emotional clouds himself.

 

He feels he’s quite in control of his emotions, actually. If a sad thought comes his way, he does what he can to make himself happy to ward away the cloud.

 

Which is why, when his bad day hits him, he doesn’t expect it.

 

It starts off awfully.

 

Blaine wakes up slowly, stretching in his warm sheets and turning over to go back to sleep. He reaches for his phone absently; ready to check how much longer he has to sleep in before his alarm goes off.

 

When he sees that the time is 9:34, he sits up in bed with a start.

 

His alarm was supposed to go off an hour ago. He’s _late_.

 

He jumps up and hurries through his routine. He has to skip his shower, so he has to try to re-gel his hair from yesterday. He’s out of the house in 22 minutes, untied bowtie around his neck and continually glancing down at his watch for the time.

 

Once Blaine gets on the subway, he tries to tie his bowtie correctly twice before getting it and almost misses his stop, only just slipping out the door before it closes.

 

When he gets to the piano studio his ten o’clock lesson is waiting with his mother. He’s a cute ten year old who almost looks disappointed when Blaine shows up.

 

“I am so sorry,” he says to the mother. “My alarm didn’t go off and well – don’t worry about paying today, I’m so sorry.”

 

“It’s okay,” says the mother. She looks down at her son and kisses his forehead. “Be good.”

 

The next half hour is horrible. Jason, his ten o’clock, obviously didn’t practice. Blaine loves teaching piano, but it’s so obvious when a kid is being forced into lessons and when they genuinely like music. Jason is the former.

 

He has serious attitude and Blaine can see the angry storm cloud already forming over his head as the lesson progresses. Finally his mom comes and picks him up.

 

His eleven o’clock lesson is a complete no show. He wants to text or call the parent to see what’s up – but realizes that he left his phone in his haste to leave the apartment this morning. He hangs around for another half hour, wondering if they are just late, but they don’t show.

 

Blaine grabs a bagel and cream cheese for lunch, his stomach making horribly embarrassing sounds since he skipped breakfast. He ends up dropping one half of the bagel on his lap on the subway - cream cheese side down, of course. He does his best to clean up, but it’s hopeless.

 

He gets to rehearsals for his musical late and the director looks pissed off. He already has an angry cloud above his head. It’s not a huge production by any means – off Broadway – but it’s fun and Blaine believes they can be really good.

 

His voice breaks during his duet in act 1, which is embarrassing enough. Then he can’t seem to remember the choreography.

 

The director sends them home early because, “I’m too fucking mad to trust myself around all you useless people right now,” he says, his cloud shooting out little bits of lightning.

 

Blaine knows he doesn’t mean it. Jeremy is a good guy and he knows that he’s having troubles with his mother’s health right now, but it still hurts.

 

He’s feeling like gum on the bottom of a shoe as he walks down the sidewalk to the subway entrance to go home. Preferably to take a warm bath and then drink a lot of wine.

 

Then he feels a rain drop on his nose.

 

Blaine looks up, expecting to see storm clouds in the sky, but sees only a cloud a few feet above his own head.

 

Oh god.

 

Blaine honestly can’t remember the last time he had a cloud. He’s an optimistic person. He turns his sadness around before he can develop a cloud.

 

It makes him stop, staring up at the cloud with shock.

 

Somehow the appearance of the cloud only makes him feel worse. Which in turn makes the rain pick up in size.

 

Soon he has a full out shower.

 

To make things worse, he forgot his umbrella in his haste this morning. Sure, he usually doesn’t get rain clouds, but he has never broken the habit of carrying one around – like everyone does – just in case someone else needs it.

 

Blaine sniffles and walks over to a bench, keeping his head down. How embarrassing is this, he thinks as he sits down. He can’t even go on the subway until he’s calmed down and stopped his rain. So many places have draining systems – buses and even a lot of cars – but the subway isn’t one of those places.

 

He just wants the world to swallow him up.

 

Blaine sits there getting rained on for a few minutes, trying to will himself to be happy. Or at least calm enough for the rain to stop. But everything he tries doesn’t seem to work.

 

 _I should just start walking home now_ , he thinks glumly. _What else could be worse, really?_

 

Then the rain stops.

 

It surprises Blaine. He doesn’t feel like he’s any happier than a moment ago. In fact, he feels worse. So why….?

 

Blaine looks to his right where a man is standing, holding an umbrella over his head.

 

He smiles down at him, a sort of bittersweet, sad smile that makes Blaine’s heart flip in his chest.

 

The man, holding this huge blue umbrella, is _beautiful_.

 

“Sorry,” says the man. “I notice you didn’t have an umbrella and well….” He shrugs. “Those Brooks Brothers pants – if I’m not mistaken – are too gorgeous to be completely ruined by a bit of rain.”

 

Blaine’s heart flips in his chest.

 

“I – I –“ He’s flustered, and can’t think of the way to say what he wants; how thankful he is. How embarrassed he is, as well.  

 

“Here,” says the man, moving the umbrella a bit and holding it out for Blaine to take it. Blaine does. Then the man moves to the other side of the bench and sits down, still smiling.

 

“My – my pants and myself thank you,” says Blaine and instantly he feels like an idiot. _My pants and myself?_ But then the man laughs – his laugh high and probably magical if he’s being honest with himself – so maybe it wasn’t as stupid as he thought.

 

“I’m glad I could help,” says the man.

 

“Um, I’m Blaine, by the way,” he says.

 

“I’m Kurt.” Kurt reaches out his hand and Blaine shakes it before realizing his mistake.

 

“Oh god, sorry, my hand is still wet.”

 

“It’s okay,” says Kurt. He wipes the hand on a hanky he pulls from his pocket. “No harm done.”

 

“Thank you again,” says Blaine, after a short silence. “For the umbrella.”

 

“Of course. I mean, we all have bad days, right?”

 

Blaine’s smile fades. “Yeah…” He lets out a sigh.

 

“That sounds like a story.”

 

“I just – I can’t remember the last time I had a rain cloud,” admits Blaine. He looks over to Kurt and he looks a little surprised. “I try to be positive, you know? And I just…I guess today was horrible enough to get to me.”

 

“Was – was it really bad?” Kurt hesitates before asking. Strictly speaking, it’s not polite to ask something like that to a stranger.

 

“You know – it actually wasn’t,” says Blaine. “Things just kept going wrong. It wasn’t like something horrible happened. I just woke up late and had a bad rehearsal.”

 

“Oh,” says Kurt. Then he perks up. “Rehearsal? For what?”

 

So Blaine describes the musical he’s in and what part he’s playing. Kurt seems really excited about it. “I used to perform – but instead I decided to go into fashion when I didn’t get accepted to NYADA.”

 

At that, Blaine shyly admits that he went to NYADA, which Kurt congratulates him on. It turns out that his former roommate (“I just moved out to my own place a few months ago actually! It’s so weird living alone, isn’t it?”) is Rachel Berry, who Blaine met once or twice during school. They had a class together his freshman year, but that was right when Rachel quit because she got the starring role in “Funny Girl.”

 

They start talking their favorite musicals – while Kurt forwent professional performing, he still loves it to bits and does get up and sing at things every so often – then move on to fashion.

 

“You know,” says Kurt. “This really worked out. I didn’t expect to get this good of a conversation – and now you don’t have your cloud.”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

Sure enough, he doesn’t hear the sounds of raindrops against an umbrella. He moves the umbrella and looks directly up –

 

No cloud.

 

Blaine looks to Kurt, who is grinning. “It’s been gone for a while now,” he says. “But I didn’t want to stop our conversation.”

 

“Oh wow,” says Blaine, absently closing the umbrella. He’s done similar things before with people he’s cheered up. Talked to them a bit and gotten their mind off their bad day. It’s never happened with him, though. “Thanks.”

 

“What can I say, I’m just that good.” Kurt winks and then laughs. Blaine joins him.

 

“Um, I guess I’ll give you back your umbrella,” says Blaine. He hands it over and Kurt takes it. “Thank you. Again.”

 

“You can stop thanking me, you know,” says Kurt. “Besides, I would hope that someone would do the same for me.”

 

 _I would_ , thinks Blaine. Oh, _would_ he.

 

“So, I guess you can get home now,” says Kurt after a moment. Blaine had mentioned that he couldn’t get on the subway until the rained had stopped.

 

“Yeah,” says Blaine. “I guess so.”

 

“And I guess I should too,” says Kurt. “Early meeting tomorrow, unfortunately.”

 

“Ah,” says Blaine. They sit there in a short silence and Blaine has to push himself to say it. “Can I have your number?” Kurt raises his eyebrow and Blaine feels himself blush. “I just mean – um – I had fun talking to you. I…I want to talk some more.”

 

“Yeah,” says Kurt. “Yeah, of course.”

 

They exchange phones and put their numbers into the contacts. “Well,” says Blaine, standing. “I’ll be seeing you.”

 

“Yeah,” says Kurt. He smiles. “Stay happy, Blaine.”

 

“I will.”

 

Blaine gets home and falls onto the couch, dazed. His day had been awful, of course. He’s already sort of planning on making himself a hot bath and relaxing tonight, but Kurt…he had definitely been the upside of a bad day.

 

In his pocket, his phone vibrates.

 

**Make sure you take off those wet clothes! Catching a cold would not be a good thing in the least.**

 

Blaine grins. It’s a text from Kurt.

 

_**Yes sir.** _

 

_**Thank you, again.** _

 

Then –

 

**I told you, Blaine. You can stop thanking me. Unless you want to buy me a cup of coffee tomorrow morning after my meeting. ;)**

 

_**What time?** _

 

**Are you serious?**

 

_**I told you, I wanted to talk to you again. And if memory serves, we didn’t finish our argument on how people should wear loafers.** _

 

**It was a highly spirited debate, not an argument, Blaine.**

 

**9:30. That little café right across from the bench today?**

 

_**I’ll be there.** _

 

xoxo

 

Coffee the next day goes well. Blaine has to force himself to leave an hour after they get there so he can run off to do a piano lesson.

 

The day in general goes much better. Conversation with Kurt was as good as yesterday – he has an amazing sense of humor and is just so passionate about his work; Blaine loves hearing about it – and his day picks up. His piano lesson today is a girl that he swears is a prodigy. Then his rehearsal goes better: everyone is in higher spirits and tries twice as hard to make up for the bomb that was yesterday.

 

Then Kurt texts him as he’s leaving rehearsal to ask if he wants to grab dinner with his former roommate and obviously, after seeing “Funny Girl” twice, he says yes.

 

Rachel Berry is a bit overwhelming. Blaine remembers that based on his class with her, though they only interacted a few times to do scenes together. That had translated so well onto the stage, where she blew people away as Fanny. Blaine secretly likes her better in the role than Barbra, though he’d never admit that out loud to anyone.

 

“Kurt was telling me about you when I called him earlier to set up our dinner tonight!” says Rachel as they sit down and start to glance over the menu. “So I insisted that he invite you. After all, NYADA alums have to stick together, right?”

 

Blaine doesn’t mention that technically she didn’t graduate NYADA and instead just nods. Kurt looks embarrassed and sends Blaine an apologetic look.

 

Dinner is nice. Rachel ends up paying, which Blaine protests about, but she won’t let him see the check at all. “It’s the 21st century. I can pay the bill! Besides, you were our guest.”

 

Afterwards Rachel leaves Kurt and Blaine with a whirlwind of cheek kisses and insists that they go out some time and sing a duet. “Being from NYADA, I’m sure your voice is just _fantastic_ ,” she says. It’s a strange request, but Blaine agrees nonetheless.

 

“Sorry about her,” says Kurt, as they start walking down the street. Cheesecake had been brought up at dinner. Rachel insisted she couldn’t and needed to get home to sleep, so Kurt and Blaine decided to go alone. “She can be…”

 

“Intense? I know,” says Blaine. “But she’s good.”

 

“So good,” agrees Kurt. “As much as it pains me to admit.”

 

They pass by a girl with a cloud above her head; Blaine sends her a warm smile and though surprised, she smiles back.

 

Outside the little bakery where they get slices of cheesecake is a homeless man curled up with a large dark cloud above his head. Blaine orders two slices – Kurt looks at him strangely – and when they go to leave, hands it to the man with a twenty tucked into the box.

 

The man looks up, surprised.

 

“Thank you,” he says. Thought minutely, the cloud seems to brighten up a bit, not as dark as it was.

 

“You’re welcome!” says Blaine. “Hey, stay warm tonight, okay?” The man nods and carefully opens the box and takes the plastic fork that Blaine also gave him.

 

“That was nice,” says Kurt as they start walking to a subway stop.

 

“Oh,” says Blaine. He sort of shrugs.

 

“Seriously,” says Kurt. “Don’t be shy.”

 

“I just….” Blaine falters for a few moments, unsure how to explain it. In the past, he’s tried to and all he’s gotten have been blank stares. “I like to cheer people up, you know? I hate seeing clouds above peoples’ heads. Sometimes what I do – a smile, something like that – can make a big difference.”

 

“You are something else, Blaine Anderson,” says Kurt as they come to a stop.

 

“Yeah, well, it’s like you said yesterday,” says Blaine. “You’d want someone to help you out if it was you. I’ve been doing this since…since I could remember. Yesterday someone finally helped me when I needed it.”

 

“Well it’s just sad to see someone having to deal with their cloud on their own,” says Kurt. “Especially if they look like you did – without an umbrella or raincoat or anything.” Kurt sort of bumps into Blaine’s shoulder.

 

Blaine looks over to Kurt. They’re walking under a tiny café, which is decorated heavily with twinkle lights. It’s in this light – magical, a bit reminiscent of a Disney movie in Blaine’s memory all of the sudden – that Kurt is lit up radiantly in their glow. He’s smiling at Blaine, his eyes bright and dimples showing and Blaine’s stomach suddenly swoops. The world slows down.

 

Of course Kurt had been attractive the moment they first met. He’s just so visually striking in general, but in this moment, Blaine seems lost in it. Plus he seems to fully understand – and not judge – Blaine for trying to cheer people up when he sees them with clouds. Even his family, at times, thinks it’s weird or embarrassing if he does it with them.

 

The world suddenly starts moving again. “Well, I’ll talk to you later?” asks Kurt as they stop in front of the subway entrance. Blaine has to get on, but Kurt lives close enough (apparently) that he’s going to walk the rest of the way.

 

“Definitely,” says Blaine. He smiles weakly. “You’ll not get rid of me that easily.”

 

As Kurt walks away, Blaine feels himself falling dangerously fast.

 

xoxo

 

**5 Weeks Later**

 

“Don’t forget about tomorrow –“

 

“Of course I won’t, you’ve only been talking about it every other hour for weeks.”

 

“Oh god, have I really been that annoying?”

 

“Blaine, calm down,” says Kurt over the phone. Blaine can practically see him rolling his eyes with a small smile on his face. “It’s cute, how excited you are for your kids’ recital. I’ll be there. Rachel will even be there.”

 

“I still can’t believe she’s coming to a piano recital for kids.”

 

“She said that kids in the arts are the future of the business and there is bound to be at least one Rachel Berry in the bunch. But then, I wouldn’t believe it till you see her sitting in the crowd next to me. She can be a little flaky.”

 

Blaine nods, though Kurt can’t see. He’s trying to decide between bowties: one with little music notes on it or one that has piano keys. Rachel is, as he’s found out, a bit unreliable. It’s because she’s rather tied up in her career, of course, but still. She’s a nice girl. She’s been through a lot in her life, in the last few years (Kurt had told Blaine about the death of his stepbrother a week after the started being friends how devastated Rachel had been when it first happened). So despite the fact that she can forget the little things, she’s amazing. She’s fantastic.

 

“I’m so excited for you to hear them,” says Blaine. “So many have just done so well. Did you know I only had two students when I started two years ago? Kids of my friends’ parents. Now I have twenty-five. I’m just so –“

 

“Proud,” finished Kurt. “And you should be. Hey, I have to go now. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

 

“Okay,” says Blaine.

 

“And Blaine?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Go with the bowtie that has the music notes. It’s definitely the cuter out of the two,” says Kurt.

 

Blaine laughs. God, it’s sort of…amazing, how well Kurt knows him at this point.

 

“Thank you, Kurt.”

 

“No problem.”

 

The next evening Blaine is running around the small church venue that he has had his recitals at for the last two years – talking to parents and kids and giving them all a boost in confidence before he directs them to find their names on their seats. He has organized it as he always has: “worst” to “best”. It mostly just means the younger kids, the beginning kids that are anywhere from 5 to 8 years old (so they don’t get too antsy being near the end) to the more advanced kids. The “last” place of the recital is the most important. His older kids know that. This year it’s his prodigy who, if he doesn’t go into musical performance when he gets older, Blaine will definitely come to haunt.

 

“Everything looks amazing.”

 

Blaine turns from the parent he was greeting. Kurt is there, Rachel on his arm.

 

“You guys!” Blaine hugs both of them, getting a kiss on either cheek from Rachel. “You came.”

 

“Of course we did,” says Rachel. “Oh, look how cute they all are.” She’s looking at a little brunette girl, seven, with a big puffy red dress on. (Of course).

 

“I got you guys the best seats in the house,” says Blaine. He leads them over and lets them sit down. “I’ll be near the front for most of it. I have a little duet with two of the students so.”

 

“That will be fantastic,” says Rachel.

 

At seven promptly, Blaine stands up and thanks everyone for being there and another year of amazing students. Then he starts off the first student, his very youngest. He gets coos when he introduces himself with a slight lisp and does a very beginning performance – but with no mistakes.

 

The night goes quickly. Blaine likes to look out at the audience at some point during every kids’ performance. During one, he sees something…strange.

 

They are in the middle and one of the kids is halfway through the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and – Kurt looks like he’s developing a cloud over his head.

 

It’s just small wisps. Nothing formed quite yet. He sees that Rachel is holding his hand tightly and Kurt is staring right at the boy playing, but not really looking at him. He looks like he’s in another world. Another time.

 

The cloud never fully forms, though, and disappears completely by the time the boy is done playing. Kurt even claps.

 

After the recital, Rachel takes them out for dinner on her to celebrate. As usually, Kurt and Blaine split up from her for dessert.

 

“What was that – that – cloud, during the recital?” asks Blaine. Kurt pauses, his fork with cheesecake on it raised halfway to his mouth. “I saw…that it started to appear.”

 

“Oh,” says Kurt. He lowers his fork. “That.” He shrugs. “The song. ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ – it has memories. I sang it, once, in high school, for my dad. When he was in the hospital. I just started… thinking about those days, suddenly.”

 

Blaine reaches out, before he can stop himself, and takes Kurt’s hand.

 

Kurt looks from their hands, then up at Blaine. He smiles at Blaine and squeezes his hand.

 

They don’t have to say anything.

 

The thing with Kurt is that Blaine is pretty sure he’s in love with him. And sometimes, he’s pretty sure that Kurt is in love with him too.

 

Their friendship – because it is technically just that, a friendship – has been full of lingering looks and touches since day one. They can talk for hours. Sit in silence for hours. Blaine knows that Kurt is – he’s either the best friend he’ll ever have, or the love of his life.

 

So far, neither of them have made a move toward the latter.

 

It’s a week after the piano recital. They’re sitting at a table at their favorite coffee place, in quiet, both focusing on their separate work. Kurt has been doing some sketches and Blaine organizing his schedule for piano lessons. Now, however, Kurt is looking out the window and at first, Blaine doesn’t notice the cloud forming until it’s there completely.

 

Finally he looks up and sees it, hanging just above Kurt’s head and Kurt doesn’t seem to notice it at all.

 

“Kurt…”

 

He turns away from the window and looks at Blaine with a questioning expression. Blaine just sort of…points at the place above his head. Kurt looks up, freezes, and then sighs.

 

“I’m sorry,” he says.

 

“You don’t have to apologize.” Blaine pauses. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Kurt. I can see that something is wrong.”

 

“It just happens, sometimes, honestly.” Kurt looks tired. “I don’t even realize I’m sad. The cloud just appears and well.” Kurt shrugs.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I’ve told you a lot about my life,” says Kurt. “Some of it I haven’t. In high school, I had very few clear days.” Kurt looks up at the cloud and yeah, he doesn’t look shocked by it at all. “My dad was sure I was depressed. I probably was, honestly. And still – even though I’m in the most amazing city and have amazing friends and feel at home – I have days when I just get sad for no reason. They almost never rain, though. Just clouds.”

 

“Kurt…”

 

“Side effect of growing up in my little homophobic town and having bullies after me everyday,” says Kurt with a bitter smile. “Things got so much better when I got out. I had clear skies above me for the first time in – in so long. The days that I spend with clouds now are just a reminder, hanging over my head.”

 

Blaine shuts his Filofax and drinks the rest of his coffee in one gulp. “Come on. We’re going out.”

 

“Um, we are out.”

 

“Yes, but we’re going out somewhere else. Somewhere fun.”

 

Kurt shakes his head but stands up anyway, tucking his sketchbook into his bag.

 

Blaine takes them to the Madame Tussauds wax figure museum – because why not – and then out for ice cream. At some point during the day, Kurt’s cloud finally disappears and neither of them notices it. It’s sort of like that day they first met, with Kurt keeping Blaine’s mind off his sadness so he can get rid of his cloud.

 

“Thank you,” says Kurt. “For today. I’m glad I could be one of the people you cheer up.” They are leaning against the side of a building, under the ice cream shop’s cover. For once, it’s actually raining from the sky and they have been standing here for cover, though they both have umbrellas.

 

“If I could cheer anyone up, it would be you,” says Blaine.

 

“Says the man who basically cheers up strangers for a living,” teases Kurt.

 

“I’m serious,” says Blaine. “If I had to choose – you’d be the only person I’d ever cheer up. Ever. Because…because I don’t like seeing you with a rain cloud. My friends, my family, even strangers, I don’t like seeing that - but with you…”

 

Kurt is frowning at him now. “You have to keep helping the strangers you help, Blaine,” he says finally. “Not many people are as nice as you. Or willing to go against etiquette. That means something.”

 

“Thank you,” says Blaine honestly. “But today, making that cloud disappear for you – it was my favorite thing to do.”

 

Kurt just stares at him for a long moment. Blaine almost feels uncomfortable.

 

Then in an instant, Kurt has his hand on Blaine’s cheek and his leaning in to kiss him – hard and fast and just like that all the air comes out of Blaine’s lungs. All he can do, after a moment of surprise, is kiss back. He doesn’t even move his arms because just as quickly as it started, Kurt’s lips are gone.

 

Blaine opens his eyes. Kurt is smiling at him – smirking, really – and a few feet away. He suddenly opens his umbrella and holds it over his head.

 

“I’ll call you later,” he says, mirth tangible in his voice. Then he leaves Blaine speechless, leaning up against a building for support, as he disappears into the rain.

 

The next few days are spent shyly dancing around each other. Blaine isn’t sure how to bring it up to Kurt – especially over the phone or text message – so instead they just smile like idiots at each other the few times they are in the same room. Those times are always with another person – Blaine’s friends from the theatre when Kurt comes out to dinner with them or Rachel the day Blaine comes over to Kurt’s apartment and finds her in her PJ’s there for a sleepover. They haven’t quite gotten a moment alone yet to talk about what the kiss was and what it meant and if there will be more.  

 

God, Blaine hopes there will be more.

 

He’s sure Kurt doesn’t regret it. He keeps smiling just as much as Blaine and isn’t actually avoiding him at all. There have just been friends getting in the way.

 

Finally, the day arrives that Blaine is sure they’ll have a few moments alone to really talk about this. Maybe even make out for a while, if all goes the way he hopes. He gets into the elevator in Kurt’s building and bounces on his toes as he gets closer.

 

Blaine knocks at Kurt’s door and waits.

 

He gets no answer.

 

He knocks again. “Kurt?”

 

“C-come in.”

 

Immediately, Blaine’s blood turns cold. The sound of Kurt’s voice, the tone…he doesn’t like it.

 

So Blaine opens the door and hurries inside. He hears sniffling coming from down the hall, where Kurt’s bathroom is. When he comes to stand in the doorway, he finds Kurt sitting on the floor of his bathroom, right next to the draining grate that is installed in pretty much every apartment and home – specifically for when you get a rain cloud indoors. The water gets filtered down, purified and then filtered into the shower or the sink in the building.

 

And Kurt is sitting there with a pretty wicked cloud over his head – dark and stormy – and a steady stream of rain pouring down on top of him.

 

“Kurt…”

 

“My dad – he – he –“

 

“Oh god, Kurt.” Blaine immediately imagines that he’s dead. With how close he is to his father, this is the only thing that could have made Kurt so upset.

 

“Carole called he – he fell down and they took him to the hospital oh god,” says Kurt, pressing the heel of his hands into his eyes. “I can’t believe this is – not again. I can’t go through something like this again.”

 

Blaine knows again means his dad in the hospital. It also means losing another member of the family, like he went through with Finn.

 

Blaine walks over to him without another thought and sits right next to him, pulling him into a hug.

 

“You’ll – you’ll get wet,” says Kurt, still crying.

 

“I don’t care. I need to do this.” Blaine hugs him closer and finally Kurt melts into the embrace and is crying into Blaine’s shoulder. Blaine is soaking wet within moments.

 

They sit there for a while. Blaine doesn’t know how long, until he hears Kurt’s ringtone.

 

Blaine reaches over where the phone is sitting (waterproof, of course, since all brands now have to be) and answers it. Kurt has stopped crying, but his rain is still falling full force on them. He’s just laying against Blaine’s chest now, clutching at his jacket.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Kurt? Is this you?” It’s a female voice.

 

“No, this is Blaine, his – “ Blaine pauses. “Just a moment.”

 

Blaine hands the him the phone and Kurt takes it slowly. After a few seconds, Kurt lets out a sob – but this time it sounds like one of relief.

 

“Put him on.”

 

A few more moments and Kurt is crying again. “Don’t scare me like that, dad, please don’t,” says Kurt. Blaine holds him as Kurt talks to his dad. His dad reassures him (Blaine can hear) that he just has a few scrapes and a few bruised ribs. Somehow he convinces Kurt not to drop everything immediately and come out to Lima. They hang up after exchanging I love yous and Kurt collapses into Blaine’s chest again. It’s stilling raining, though.

 

“That was – “

 

“Scary, I know,” says Blaine. “It’s going to be okay.”

 

A few minutes of silence and Kurt straightens himself up and stares at Blaine. “Blaine, I know we haven’t gotten to talk,” says Kurt. “About us. I just…”

 

Blaine holds Kurt’s face in his hands, smoothing back his wet hair from his forehead.

 

“I love you,” Blaine says.

 

Kurt’s smile is slow, spreading over his face. “I thought you did,” says Kurt calmly. “I love you too.”

 

Then Blaine leans in and kisses Kurt, their lips sliding against each other in Kurt’s rain.

 

Finally they part, because apparently breathing is a thing they have to do, and Blaine soon realizes that the rain has stopped.

 

They both look up to see Kurt’s cloud disappearing and Kurt laughs, forehead falling against Blaine’s.

 

Blaine stands up slowly after that, holding his hands out for Kurt. “Come on. You need a nice warm shower and some tea. That cold rain didn’t do you any favors.”

 

“You too,” says Kurt.

 

“Okay. You jump in here and I’ll go to your guest bathroom.”

 

“Blaine,” says Kurt, giving him a look.

 

Blaine holds his hands up. “Hey. We haven’t even been on a first date. I’d be happy to jump into that shower with you but something tells me that would be rushing a bit.”

 

Kurt rolls his eyes. Then nods. “Okay. Towels are in the hall closet. You can grab some PJ pants and a t-shirt from my room before you go.”

 

“First one out makes the tea,” says Blaine.

 

Kurt leans in, kissing him quickly. “I’m going to take a while. So I take my tea with one sugar and –“

 

“A shit ton of honey, I know,” laughs Blaine. He kisses him back.

 

“After the shower,” says Kurt. “We’ll talk some more, if you want.”

 

“I think we both know that we don’t have to really say anything else,” says Blaine. “Because this…this is enough.”

 

Kurt’s eyes soften. “Yeah. You’re right.”

 

As Blaine walks down the hall, dripping on the hardwood floor, he is pretty sure he’s the luckiest man in the world.

 

 

 


End file.
